Lion Among Snakes, Snake Among Lions
by Shadow Padawan
Summary: Harry Potter's daughter was sorted into Slytherin and she's not unhappy there…


Lily sat alone in one of the corner loveseats, staring blankly at the letter on her lap. Their home owl had come at breakfast and Lily had taken one look at the first lines of the letter and quickly hid it away in the pocket of her robes. She had not wanted to explain anything to her housemates and friends so she had quickly started up a conversation about classes for the day and who had finished their potions essay and who would be scrambling to finish during transfiguration.

The words, written out in her father's strong but somewhat sloppy hand jumped off the page at her:

_You know your mother and I told you the same thing we told Albus before you went to Hogwarts – it is not important to us which House you sort into. This is still true. Nor have we intruded into your personal life. You have been free to choose your friends as you wanted. But Lily…for Merlin's sake! You are seventeen years old! You are not getting married, especially to Rosier. This is a school crush, Lily, it will go away. You may think I sound traditional but marriage is a serious matter…_

The letter went on and on in such a manner. It made Lily's blood boil. Who was her father to speak of school crushes and marriage? After all, him and mum had been school sweethearts and they were married and quite happily so, from what Lily could tell.

For all that her father was tolerant of her House and her mother did a good job of pretending she was, Lily often felt isolated at family gathering, reunions and holidays. Her green-and-silver scarf always stood out in the sea of Potter-Weasley red-and-gold ones. At least when the Scamanders came over there was Lorcan's Ravenclaw scarf and Lysander's Slytherin one. She felt a little less like a…a snake in the grass.

Lily wasn't really sure why her family still couldn't get over her House affiliation. It was almost like they still expected her to be a Gryffindor in everything but the colors on her school uniform. After all, her Housemates had gotten over the fact that she was Harry Potter's daughter and came from a Gryffindor-only family.

She had first found the Slytherins rather insular. The War was still too fresh in the minds of their parents' generation and the Slytherins clung together as a way to protect themselves against any aggression outpours from other students. They had regarded her carefully at first, some had wondered in whispers if the Sorting Hat had finally gone loony. But Lysander, who had been her friend from childhood, had been there and he'd made a good impression on the slightly older Slytherins headed by Scorpius Malfoy. They got used to her over time. When she was sixteen, Scorpius had invited her to the Malfoy Christmas Ball. There, she and Amiri had kissed for the first time and Lily had finally felt completely at home in her House.

Lily was brought out of her thoughts by Lysander, who slid onto the loveseat beside her and attempted to read the letter on her lap over her arm. She glared at him and hid the scroll of parchment under her robes.

"Is your dad giving you a hard time again?" he asked, running a hand through his golden, curly hair which he'd inherited from his mother.

"Something like that," Lily mumbled. She looked across the common room where Amiri, Scorpius, Tony Deschain, Keith Rookwood and a couple of other boys were sitting by the fire, heads bowed together in a circle, talking quietly. Scorpius and Tony were visiting as they had already graduated but the others were in Lily's year. They often had these talks now and Lily sometimes felt left out for she could feel that she was no welcome in these conversations even though no one ever told her so upfront. Lily was not sure if this was because she was a girl or because of her family.

"Do you think Amiri really does love me? That he's not just…looking for a Pureblood girl to marry or something?" Lily asked, annoyed at herself that such thoughts would even come into her head.

Lysander rolled his eyes. "There are plenty of non-Potter girls he could marry."

"But wouldn't marrying Harry Potter's daughter have an advantage?"

Lysander shrugged. "To some maybe, but I don't think Amiri is looking for such an advantage. He's not exactly…supportive of your father's political faction. You know that."

Lily nodded dismally. She had heard talk about an "opposition" party forming in the Ministry. There had been rumors circulating about its nature, paranoid rumors. But even her father said that they were perfectly clean. No one in their leadership had put even a toe out of line when it came to the law so Lily did not see any reason to be worried. If she was to be honest with herself, Lily didn't give a rat's ass about politics. She just wanted to marry her boyfriend, have parties with her friends and be free of all the old bad blood that ran between her family and some of the Slytherins.

"Well, if you truly want to appease your father, you could always marry me," Lysander suggested. Lily laughed and slapped his arm playfully. Lysander was her best friend; she didn't know what she'd do without him. She felt eyes on her and looked over to the fireplace. Amiri was looking over at her and Lily felt her heart miss a beat. She smiled at him and he smiled back, a promising sensual smile that made her shiver and then giggle, hiding her face against Lysander's shoulder. She didn't care what her parents thought, she was happy here.

By the fireplace, the boys put their heads back together. "Will you marry her, then?" Scorpius asked Amiri, watching the younger boy carefully.

"I like her, I want to be with her, so yes, I think so. She's a Pureblood, I don't see any reason why not," Amiri said defensively.

"It's really not such a bad idea," Tony put in, sneaking a glance at Lily. "She's Potter's daughter. It would give us some…legitimacy? Some time, anyway,"

"She's my girlfriend, not your political weapon!" Amiri protested.

The other boys waved at him to lower his voice. "It's not like that," Scorpius assured him. "But we take our advantages where we can. Won't you agree?"

Amiri looked around at his friends and signed resignedly. "Slytherins," he said fondly. "Can't ever do something just because."

"Don't worry, it's our strength," Scorpius reassured him with a smirk.


End file.
